Over the past days, Russian and pro-Russian media, as well as information platforms operating from the occupied territories of Donbas, have generated a huge amount of provocative content.
These outlets, supervised both by the Russian defense officials, including military intelligence, consistently inject allegations of deadly shelling of civilian areas by Ukrainian troops and other violent acts of provocation. At the same time, no solid evidence was presented to back any of those claims, so all they have is statements by local warlords.
However, the intensity of such fake spins has been growing steadily, which is a matter of real concern as international and Ukrainian intelligence agencies have exposed the Russian hybrid forces’ plans to stage a violent provocation, including with casualties, as part of a psy-op to compromise Ukraine’s forces.
According to the Russian and pro-Russian media, on February 11, the self-styled chief of the “DPR, Denis Pushilin, will convene a press conference, which will also be available online.
As my friends with the international media outlets told me, a following invitation had been sent to their corporate mail for yet-another propaganda stunt by Pushilin, the guy driven by an invisible hand of Russia’s GRU.
Of course, none of the media who have some self-respect will attend the show, but journalists are still asking me, what this all could mean in the current context. They also have questions regarding the timing…
First of all, here’s the full text of the said invitation:
“Dear media representatives, we invite you to take part in the press conference of the Donetsk People’s Republic Head Denis Pushilin. It will be held on February 11 in Donetsk.
The key discussion topics: the genocide of citizens of the Donetsk People’s Republic by Ukraine; death and injuries of civilians, including children; destructions of infrastructure, situation on the demarcation line, the Ukrainian army offensive preparation, provocations, mining, terrorist acts of the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance forces.
The event will be held both offline and online.
For participation please pass the registration and send an email to press.conference.dpr@gmail.com with attached documents till February 7, 2022 (till 1:00 PM, Moscow time).”
From the announcement, the goals the event pursues become quite clear. They will once again voice a range of false accusations targeting Ukrainian forces, the kind regularly spun by the guys like Basurin, Pushilin, and the so-called “war correspondents” with the GRU, and other Russian “talking heads” – all of which Ukraine keeps diligently debunking almost on a daily basis.
But it’s actually traditional for the GRU to “enhance” the propaganda effect of a press event by some new “crimes of the Kyiv regime” would be highlighted right ahead of it, so it can be safely assumed that some kind of “violent” provocation could be carried out in the coming days. That’s especially given the fact that a number of the scenarios exposed earlier have not yet been implemented by the occupation forces, remaining on standby.
Therefore, next week we can expect a further surge of fake news from Russian propaganda pundits. Also, wider-scale provocations are also set to be expected, it should be concluded.